


Into the Unknown

by BatmanWhoLaughss, HunterByDayWhovianByNight



Series: Adventures in Force-Sensitive Parenting [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adorable Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV), Adventures in Parenting, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Introspection, One Shot Collection, Slice of Life, The Mandalorian (TV) Season 2, adventures in single fatherhood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27291748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatmanWhoLaughss/pseuds/BatmanWhoLaughss, https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterByDayWhovianByNight/pseuds/HunterByDayWhovianByNight
Summary: Even MORE ruminations on Din Djarin's life as a space dad, now with season 2!
Relationships: The Mandalorian & Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: Adventures in Force-Sensitive Parenting [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992697
Comments: 12
Kudos: 158





	1. Dinner Time

**Author's Note:**

> Baby Yoda is still ruining our lives so we continue to write about Din's adventures in parenting

“Don’t touch that.”

The child bashfully pulled his little hands away from the slab of meat the Tuskens gifted him for helping kill the Krayt. He looked up at Din with his big, bright eyes, clearly trying to give him an apologetic look in exchange for his marauding behavior. He waddled away from where the meat sat atop a storage box, still looking rather mischievous.

Din put down the knife and dehydrator packs he had in his hands as he let out a sigh. “I can’t get this ready for us if you keep getting out of your crib, kiddo.” He bent over, ignoring the crack in his ankle, and picked the child off the ground. He bounced him lightly as he walked to the hovercrib, like he’d seen the women with young children back in Omera’s village do, and set him down.

“Now. I want you to stay put and not get in my way. I don’t want you causing problems while I have that knife out.” He tried to sound in charge as he talked down to the child and pointed his finger at him, but it was of no use. The child was biting on the hem of his sleeve and looking up at him with an absent stare. Din retracted his finger and squeezed his palm, giving the child one last look of warning, before he went back to the counter to sharpen his knife. He had to work quickly to make sure the meat would still be fresh when he packaged it.

Every now and then, Din looked back at the child and made sure he was still cooped up in the hovercrib. He didn’t want a repeat of the time he was carving up a piece of bantha steak— a rare treat for the two of them— and had to duck away to get the spices, leaving the knife teetering a little too close to the edge. The child, curious as ever, had used his abilities to float the knife down from the countertop and hold it proudly in his hands. When Din entered the main cabin again, to the sight of a very young child holding a knife half the size of its body he dropped the spices and snatched the knife out of his little grabby hands.

He tried his best to keep the knives out of the child’s sight after that.

Din was humming to himself as he cut off bite-sized pieces of meat from the slab and sprinkled the preserving spices onto them when he felt something wasn’t quite right. He glanced over at the hovercrib, finding it empty, and froze. _Kriff, where did that little womp rat go to now?_

Completely stiff, he sealed the bag carefully, placed it down on the counter, and scanned the cabin for a little green creature in hiding. The tug on his trousers made his heart jump and his breath catch in his throat, but when he looked down and saw the child with his hands fisted in the thick material of his pants, he let out a sigh of relief.

“You’ve really got to stop scaring me like that, kid.”


	2. A Lucky Find

They stopped on this backwater moon to refuel, and grab some supplies. Din’s been getting frustrated, cooped up on the ship with a small magical child who insists on getting into trouble at every conceivable moment. It’s enough to drive anyone crazy, and the opportunity to stretch his legs is a welcome one indeed. 

At the moment, said child is tucked securely in the pouch on his hip, mercifully quiet for the time being. He’s looking around excitedly, occasionally letting out a small coo as Din wanders the small market. They need supplies, and he’s trying to figure out which vendor will scam him the least. 

They’ve been on the move so much recently that this is the first time he’s been off the ship in weeks. Part of him is grateful for the reprieve; being trapped in the Crest for too long always makes him restless. But the other part is nervous. There’s less opportunity for the baby to get in trouble when they’re safely on the ship, When they’re out in the open like this, he’s always tense, anticipating another attack. 

But so far, the day has been mercifully calm, and aside from the usual open-mouthed stares at the Beskar he wears, there hasn’t been much happening. He has a mental list of the supplies they need, when suddenly the baby lets out a loud noise. 

“What’s up?” Din says, glancing downward. He’s been relatively calm this whole time, but now he’s wriggling, trying to get out of his carrier. He sighs, picking up the child and cradling him in the crook of his arm. “We’re almost done here, okay? Just one more stop to pick up a wrench to replace the one  _ you _ broke last week.” He can’t help but boop the baby’s nose as he says it, and even though he pretends to be stern, he’s smiling under the beskar. The kid managed to get into his toolbox, and somehow the wrench turned up wedged inside the garbage disposal an hour later. Still, Din’s not mad at the kid‒he’s smiling up at him with those big bright eyes, and he can’t help but melt the way he always does. 

He thinks back to the first time they walked through a town like this, when they both nearly died in a blaster fight. The whole time, his skin was crawling, and he could feel the bounty hunters closing in before he saw them. Now, though, he felt nothing but an odd sense of peace wash over him as he smiles down at the child in his arms. 

“C’mon, you little womp rat. Just cooperate with me for a few more minutes and then we can go home.” The baby miraculously stops squirming, sitting calmly in the crook of his elbow as Din makes his way towards the last vendor on this strip. She seems to have an assortment of random items for sale, and he hopes that somewhere in there is the item he needs. 

“What can I do you for?” she says, when Din approaches the counter. “Not often we get a Mandalorian around these parts. What brings you here?” 

“I’m looking for a small socket wrench. Got any handy?” He tries to keep the tiredness out of his voice. She nods, turning her back to Din to grab the box behind her. The baby squirms again, almost like he’s trying to stand up. He makes an insistent noise, and reaches one of his arms up to grab the edge of Din’s shoulder plate. Din just sighs, shifting the baby so he’s perched against his shoulder instead. It seems to satisfy the kid.

The shopkeeper turns back to them, setting the box down on the counter. “Got a bunch here- see if there’s one that suits your needs.” Then she gasps, letting out a high-pitched  _ aww _ when she sees the baby. Din’s used to people fawning over the child by now, but he still involuntarily clenches his fist, his protective instincts kicking in. But the woman just gives the baby a small, cheerful wave, and Din feels the kid wave back. 

He takes a few moments to look through the wrenches before he finally finds the right size. “This one will do nicely,” he says, handing the woman a credit chip. 

He’s about to turn and walk away when he feels the child squirming again. He leans so far forward that Din almost drops him, and he’s letting out small grunts that are getting steadily louder. He’s reaching for something above Din’s head, hanging from the ceiling of the shopkeeper’s stall. It looks like a small toy, a stuffed animal of some kind.

“Come on, you don’t need that,” Din mutters, trying to pull the kid away so they can head back to the ship. But the child isn’t having it; he lets out a louder cry, and he’s still reaching for the stuffed toy. 

Din sighs, reaching up to pluck it from where it hangs. He supposes the kid  _ could _ use some toys that aren’t made from recycled pieces of the Crest. He looks down at the baby, watching the way his eyes light up as Din hands him the toy. Up-close like this, he can see it’s a small loth-cat plushie, and he can’t deny that it  _ is  _ kind of cute. 

“Alright, alright, you can have it,” he says, watching the way the baby immediately hugs it close. “We’ll take this too,” he says to the shopkeeper, tossing another credit chip onto the counter and turning back towards where they came. He’s a little sore about having to fork over the extra credits, but the baby has stopped squirming, and he lets out another happy noise as he cradles the small cat in his arms. Din can’t help but smile again, reaching down to stroke the baby’s ear. The child gives him a small smile in return, and Din’s still amazed by how fond he’s grown of the little green being. 

Later that night, when they get back to the Crest, he walks past the baby’s crib on the way to his own quarters. The child is already asleep, curled up under his small blanket. The loth-cat toy is tucked snugly under his arm, and the baby is curled protectively around it, snuggling the toy in a pose that’s well and truly adorable. Din should be slightly embarrassed as how widely he’s grinning, but all he feels is a deeply profound sense of love for this impossibly weird child that has completely upended his life. He makes a mental note to pick up some more toys for the kid the next time they’re out for supplies– this one seems to be a rousing success.

Din leans down to press a small kiss to the child’s forehead “Sleep well, kiddo,” he says, before heading to his own bed for some well-deserved rest.


	3. Bedtime Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din tells the child the story of how he became a foundling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! It's Hunter, back with more angst. Sorry for the slow updates, but I hope you enjoy this new chapter! This is set pre-Chapter 11 (The Heiress). 
> 
> ~Hunter

The kid was getting pretty drowsy. He was already drooping over in his seat in the cockpit of the Crest, his perky green ears falling and his bright eyes struggling to stay awake. They’d been in hyperspace a while now, and wouldn’t come out for a few more hours. It was the perfect time to get some shut-eye in. Now that the kid had a little hammock of his own in their shared bunk, he should really be sleeping there instead of an uncomfortable chair. 

Din stood and scooped the child up carefully into his arms, not wanting to jostle him and wake him up too much; it would be a much more peaceful hyperspace trip if he was fast asleep instead of running around and creating havoc on the ship. He started to fuss in Din’s arms when Din jumped off the ladder, but nothing more than a whine and a nose scrunch. _Come on, just go back to sleep,_ Din thought to himself as he bounced the kid in his arms. He pat the child’s back gently, hoping he would drift off faster. 

When Din sat in the bunk, holding the child to the chest, he found that the child was more awake than he was in the cockpit. He was able to hold his head up now without nodding off and was a little squirmy. He held back a curse; he had hoped the kid was so beat he’d just pass out naturally, but it appeared that Din would have to resort to other methods.

“You wanna hear a story kid?” Din asked softly. The child’s ears twitched and he blinked tiredly up at Din, searching for his eyes in the matte black of the T-visor. “A story? Maybe it’ll help you fall asleep.” The child’s ears twitched again and he cocked his head. Din took that as a yes.

Din racked his brain for a story, trying to decide which event from his many intergalactic hunting exploits would be the least gruesome to tell a child as a bedtime story. He offered a finger to the child, which he promptly took in his little fist. He remembered the moment when the child took his finger, so many months ago, and felt a tug at his heartstrings. Though they didn’t know it then--or perhaps the child did, with its knowledge of the Force--that was the moment the child became his foundling. Unofficially so, but Din always knew at the bottom of his heart that this kid was his. That he would never let anything to him. 

“Well, once upon a time, I was a foundling. Just like you. I was raised in a clan of Mandalorians, too. They gave me a home and a family when I lost mine.” The child looked at him attentively; Din couldn’t help but feel that even though they didn’t speak the same language, he understood him in that moment. It felt special. “Before they found me, I was so scared. I was afraid of the droids coming to attack my family, my friends. My home. Is that how you felt, too?” Din gulped. Nobody knew this story except for the clan he was a foundling of. He didn’t talk about it. But now, in this clan of two, Din wanted to share. He wanted the child to know why he took him with him and protected him so fiercely. 

“I was all alone. My parents protected me, tried to escape. They didn’t make it.” Din felt the tears threatening to spill from his eyes and the burning of his nose. The child’s face went sad for a moment, like he could sense the pain in Din’s chest as he told the story. He reached one little hand up to Din’s helmet, trying to touch his cheek. That made the tears finally come. He sniffed them back, or tried to, but the tears just fell. “But when those Mandalorians came to save me… it felt okay. I felt better. It felt like…” Din trailed off, trying to find the words. “It felt like the Force was protecting me. Maybe. I think that’s what a Jedi would say.” He shifted the child so that he sat higher on his chest, and he rested his little head on Din’s shoulder.

“The Mandalorian who found me opened the door to the cellar I was hiding in. I was so scared he was a droid, but he reached out for my hand. And I felt safe. He pulled me up and held me close. He protected me as we ran away from the battle.” Din smiled a weak, little smile. “And then we went into the sky. He had a jetpack like me. And we soared back to their ship, and they made me one of them. Accepted me as a foundling.” The child’s left ear twitched and he let out a tired yawn.

“When you’re with your kind. Your people. Perhaps you won’t feel so alone, either.” Din stroked behind the child’s ears, lulling him to sleep. “They’ll teach you to use the Force, how to protect yourself. You’ll be with people like you.” Din tried to ignore the wrenching pain in his gut at the thought of leaving the child. He felt selfish. “And they’ll take such good care of you. Stars, they’ll take such good care of you, kiddo.” The tears burned his eyes as they fell silently from his eyes. 

“It was hard, living with new people. But you’ll adjust. I felt so happy when I belonged to my clan. You’ll learn their ways. Become one of them,” Din felt the baby get heavier and start to settle into sleep more. “Just like me.” Din sniffed and rested his head back against the wall of his bunk. In that moment, it was just the two of them, their hearts beating against each other. Din knew it was going to be hard giving the child up. But he had his code, his honor; and he didn’t want to go back on either of those things. 

(A secret part of Din’s mind thought, selfishly, that there was a reason the two were brought together. Perhaps it was the Force working in mysterious ways. What if they were destined to stay together forever?)

“Did the Force bring me to you, _ad’ika_?” He got no reply. The child snored softly, already fast asleep in his arms. Din sighed and carefully stood up to deposit the child in his hammock.

“Good night, kiddo.”


End file.
